Julia Davis

Russia’s mainstream media and President Vladimir Putin continue to remain silent about numerous prisoners of Putin’s undeclared war against Ukraine. Pilot Nadiya Savchenko and 30 other Ukrainian service members are still being illegally held in Russian jails. Taking hostages is one of Russia’s Hamas-style tactics against its perceived enemies – foreign and domestic. In that sense, Nadiya is much more than a prisoner. To Putin and his regime, she is the symbol of Ukraine itself: spirited, strong and unbroken. In a video of her interrogation, Nadiya said that she does not expect to return home alive, but is not afraid. The brave pilot has entered the third week of her hunger strike, during relative media silence. In the meantime, Savchenko’s attorneys are fighting an uphill battle, seeking justice in kangaroo courts of Russia’s Banana Republic. To break the media silence, activists all over the world are taking Twitter by storm with a trending campaign, #FreeSavchenko. Appealing to ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton infamously presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift-wrapped red button, which said "Reset" in English and "Peregruzka" (“Overload”) in Russian. The prop, pilfered from a Jacuzzi or a swimming pool in Geneva, turned out to be quite symbolic. While the West naively looked the other way, Russia overloaded the world with the deluge of disinformation and propaganda. Putin told the delegation of rabbis: “Unfortunately, just like 70 years ago, arrogance often achieves its goals. After all, Goebbels had said, “The more improbable the lie, the faster people believe it.” And he achieved his goals, he was a talented man.” By that definition, as a mediocre Chekist who rose to the highest position in the land, Putin himself is quite talented. His propaganda machine spreads fantastical stories, outright lies and ludicrous conspiracy theories. Even after those fabrications are exposed, they plant the black seed of decepti...